


Three, Two, One

by Natsume Gekka (athenianAcolyte)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Graduation, Love Confessions, M/M, Other, Third Year Hinata Shouyou, Third Year Tsukishima Kei, Third Year Yamaguchi Tadashi, gakuran buttons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26592298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athenianAcolyte/pseuds/Natsume%20Gekka
Summary: The last three years have flown by fast and graduation day has arrived. A day for farewells and final words. But there’s still one thing left that Kei isn’t prepared for.Tsukihina 2020 Day 1:Third Year/ Intimacy / Childhood Friends AU
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi, barest implications, one-sided(?)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 47
Collections: TsukiHina week 2020!





	Three, Two, One

**Author's Note:**

> I whipped this one up not too long ago to meet the prompt for today. My recommended listening for this one is Your Graduation by Modern Baseball; it definitely had a huge influence while writing it. A quick note: apparently it's tradition to give the second button on the gakuran to a loved one on the day of graduation. The third button goes to your best friend.

It was a day he was both looking forward to and dreading. The culmination of his three years of studying will be presented to him as a piece of paper that says he has a high school level education. In addition, he’ll have to stand around in his too stuffy uniform for a warm spring day while his proud parents take pictures. That aside, it’ll also be a chance for friends to gather for one last time and reflect on the experiences they shared.

A day for farewells and final words.

In a way Kei had been preparing for it for a while. He took his entrance exams and got into a respectable university. He continued playing volleyball with plans of joining a team in college. Hell, he’d even made sure he had the most up to date contact information of the people he wanted to stay in touch with after high school - which weren’t that many.

But there’s still one thing left that he isn’t prepared for.

He and Yamaguchi walk side by side wordlessly as they approach classroom one. He’s fiddling with the second button on his jacket. He can feel the threads fraying under his fingers. He wouldn’t be surprised if it’s hanging by a single thread by the time he enter the classroom. 

He stops just outside the open door. Yamaguchi claps a hand on his shoulder and shoots him a shaky smile. He watches as Yamaguchi pulls off the second button on his own jacket and looks at it pensively before he clenches a fist around it.

“Well, see you outside.”

Yamaguchi walks fast, nearly running down the hall towards classroom five. Kei takes a deep breath before taking the first step inside. The first thing he sees is Hinata chatting with a group of his classmates. He laughs at a comment someone makes and Kei’s heart leaps at the sound. He can feel the blood threatening to rush to his face and forces himself to stay calm enough to not blush. Kei briefly considers turning around and pretending he never came, but Hinata catches sight of him.

“Tsukishimaaaaaa!” he calls out.

Hinata hurries towards him, leaving his classmates to talk amongst themselves. Kei’s pulse speeds up the closer Hinata gets to him. Naturally he takes a step back when Hinata stops just in front of him. Even now Hinata has yet to learn proper personal space distances. It drives Kei mad. Not like the other boy can tell. 

“What brings you here?”

Kei had prepared an excuse about how he was visiting classrooms to say his farewells and Hinata’s was next on his list. Nevermind that he had spent the last half hour combing the school for the express purpose of talking to Hinata. But all of that is forgotten when he takes one look at Hinata’s jacket and sees the second button is missing.

“Who’s the unlucky girl?” Kei sneers. 

He wants to slap himself for falling back on his cruel sense of humor in moments of uncertainty like this. But Hinata seems to have grown used to it. Or perhaps it’s more like he’s too preoccupied. Whatever the case, Kei’s heart drops as he watches Hinata’s fingers brush over the empty space on his jacket, a fond smile on his face.

“Ayumi-chan from class two. I didn’t know her too well before, but she confessed to me a few months ago. I had to turn her down since I didn’t think it would be fair to start dating when I’d be leaving for Brazil so soon. But we kept talking. It felt right to give it to her, you know?”

Kei feels like the room is spinning on a wild axis around him. Even Hinata seems blurry and unfocused. That is, until he notices his hand reaching out towards him and grabbing hold of something on his chest.

“Tsukishima, your second button is loose. Were you planning on giving it to someone? Who is it?”

The grin on Hinata’s face is too bright, too brilliant to keep looking at. With nary a word, he turns on his heels and runs away as fast as he can from the classroom.

* * *

When Kei finally comes back to himself, he’s sitting on a park bench next to Yamaguchi.

“Feeling better?” he asks, voice sounding uncertain.

Kei nods despite himself. Yamaguchi raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t push the topic. They sit there in silence while Kei tries to mentally recollect himself. He puts a hand to his chest and realizes his second button is missing. It must have fallen off when he was running earlier.

“So how did it go for you?” Kei asks. “Hopefully better than mine,” he adds, a bit more quietly.

Yamaguchi smiles with restraint, as if afraid to let the joy show.

“Good, I think. She accepted it. But that’s about it,” he admits sheepishly. Yamaguchi says nothing else, but it’s clear that it’s hard for him to keep the smile off his face.

Kei nods and turns his head. He’s happy for Yamaguchi, he really is. But he can’t even force a smile, and he knows Yamaguchi wouldn’t appreciate it if he tried. 

He hears a popping noise then suddenly Yamaguchi is kneeling in front of him.

“Here, this is for you.”

In the palm of his hand lies a jacket button. Kei looks at Yamaguchi’s jacket to see the third button is missing. Kei’s hand hovers over Yamaguchi’s palm before he takes it.

“Thanks.”

Kei fiddles with the third button on his own jacket. Finally, with a frustrated sigh, he pulls it off and offers it to Yamaguchi.

“Here. Tit for tat.”

Yamaguchi laughs and takes Kei’s button with a thanks. They sit on that park bench until it gets dark out. They occasionally trade words on their plans for the future, but for the most part it’s just a silent enjoyment of each other’s company. When he and Yamaguchi finally get up to leave, Kei realizes that he’s been smiling for quite a while now.

“See you tomorrow?”

“Not like I have anything else planned.”

He keeps Yamaguchi’s button in his hand until he gets to his room, making sure to put it in its own place on his shelf, next to his other prized possessions.

* * *

* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  


Shoyo watches as Tsukishima runs from his classroom. His instincts tell him to run after him, but for once he doesn’t listen. He looks down at the button Tsukishima left behind and turns it over in his hand.

“Hinata, I thought you gave your button to Ayu-chan already?”

“I did,” Shoyo responds as he pockets the button, “It’s my friend’s. I think he left it accidentally.”

“Was that why he was in such a rush? To confess to some girl?”

“Maybe,” Shoyo responds, fingers still tracing the design on the metal.

“You should get it to him before he embarasses himself!”

“Right, right!” Shoyo agrees. He leaves the classroom, but he doesn’t go looking for Tsukishima right away. He tells himself that he’ll have ample opportunity to return it to him before he leaves. He keeps telling himself that as he leaves the school building, then Karasuno, and finally even as he’s on the plane to Brazil. 

The entire time, he keeps that button in his pocket where he caresses the metal until it’s worn smooth.


End file.
